[ET Net News Agency, 19 April 2018] Credit Suisse assumed coverage on Industrial &
Commercial Bank of China (ICBC)(01398) with an "outperform" rating and raised its target
price to HK$8.6 from HK$8.1.
The research house adjusted its FY2018-19 by 3-4%. It believes ICBC's strong deposit
franchise and liquid balance sheet is well positioned to benefit from higher regulatory
tightening that leads to rise in interbank rates amid lower asset growth for the sector.
Credit Suisse estimated ICBC's profit growth will accelerate to 12.6% in 2018. It
expects NIM to further improve in 2018 and offset a bit slower loan growth. Also, credit
cost should decline along with further asset quality improvement in 2018, with the bank to
also raise total reserve-to-loan to 2.5% by end-2018, based on our estimates. (KL)